This invention pertains to wheel rim buffers and more particularly to a buffer adapted to be adjustable to many sizes of rims and having a flexibly movable buffer wheel adapted to reach all inner parts of the rim.
Older wheel rims on which pneumatic tires are to be mounted frequently become rusty and corroded. This corrosion leads to deterioration of the rim, and especially for tubeless tires can cause slow leaks of air from the tire because of imperfect sealing of the tire bead on the rim. The corrosion can also cause rough spots on the rim which will chafe tubes which may be used on certain tires, thus considerably shortening the life of the tube. Therefore it is desirable to eliminate that corrosion whenever possible.
Our previous U.S. Pat. No. 4,426,747 issued Jan. 24, 1984 illustrates one type of device for buffing such rims. However, that device, while well adapted to its use on relatively uniformly sized rims is not flexible enough to be used with both small auto rims and large truck rims. That device also requires a clumsy attachment of a wheel to a spindle in order to hold the rim in place for buffing.
The present device is designed to be considerably more flexible as to the size of the rims it can handle and more convenient in the placing of rims on the machine. It also requires less time for attachment of the rim to the holding device which causes that rim to rotate. Another advantage of the present device may be that it is somewhat easier to control the position of the buffer wheel relative to the rim being cleaned.